Appeal: PEACE: THE ONLY POSSIBILITY

Through the eyes of mothers and fathers, a political way for peace: no more sons or daughters  at war, no more war in the world

In the face of the current tragedy in the Holy Land, we, as politicians of the Mppu and as part of humanity, beg all the victims to forgive us, for doing so little in the search for peaceful political solutions for what lies at the root of the current conflits. 

The violence unleashed this month by the Hamas terrorist attack, the hostage-taking and the military counter-offensive by Israel have deep historical roots. The ferocity with which it began and is developing, through regional and international ties, and the disfigurement it inflicts on all of us as humanity, compel us to make this heartfelt APPEAL and extend it to all conflicts today. 

As the Political Movement for Unity – an international network of politicians, officials, diplomats, students and researchers, activists in parties and civil society from 22 countries on 5 continents, committed to building a more fraternal, just and egalitarian world – we choose to embrace only one stand: that of peace, reconciliation and active conflict transformation. We bring  our contribution on the basis of an ongoing experience, where politics is at the service of the unity of the human family.

The conflict in the Middle East has pushed and continues to push, entire civilian populations, families with children, the elderly, the disabled and the sick, into suffering, and – like all wars in the world – tears  up the very roots of human life, setting back any growth in coexistence.

Wars are often waged by governments and organizations that have set aside the path of politics and democratic consensus and used violence and oppression as a means to assert and increase their own power. 

And yet from all latitudes, we want to cry out with a single voice: Peace! to continue “taking care for life” even in the midst of violence, and call for the right to peace, to the search for concerted and just solutions through dialogue. 

In this process, civil society is a protagonist; let us give it strength and means. 

We are convinced that the spiritual vision of life –which transcends the bonds of religious affiliation- and historical and cultural diversities -and which political institutions cannot ignore- can be a space of encounter and mutual recognition. As people and peoples, we have equal dignity: we want to, and can, live together, and find solutions to our conflicts together. 

That is why we make AN APPEAL:

– To governments and political leaders around the world: we appeal to your consciences, to stop using force and war as a political tool; hatred and elimination of the other is not politics, it is barbarism. From the perspective of mothers and fathers, politics has the role of caring for everyone and each child, of cherishing life. We ask you to exercise to the full international advocacy, and work together for the right to life and peace, repudiating war and the instrumentalization of peoples and individuals, as well as the use of violence and extortion.

– To the international multilateral organizations: we ask that they do their utmost to achieve without equivocation a ceasefire, to legally bind the implementation of measures to stop the war, to open channels of mediation to enact  peace negotiations at all places at war around the world. We call for a focus on the victims to prevail, through humanitarian corridors to safeguard the civilian population, children, the elderly, women and the vulnerable. We call for respect for international law to foster peaceful coexistence among peoples and the common good of the international community. 

– To all citizens of every community: let us take up our responsibility to build daily a shared culture of encounter and coexistence, of welcome and mutual respect. Let us give voice to children and youth, to women of peace, to their experiences and to a new narrative that can grow and give hope, defeat fear, defeat hatred.

We ask everyone not to accept any justification for violence, to recognize its failure as a form of conflict resolution and to open paths of transformation based on the care for human life, of all life. 

We want to recognize as the tools of politics only those of dialogue, diplomacy, and recognition of human and peoples’ rights for building the present and future of our humanity. The only political action that represents us is that which assumes the role of “mother” even when avenues  seem closed: it takes up the word again, it begins to weave networks to achieve peaceful and fraternal coexistence, to which we all aspire to.

8 November 2023

You too sign the Appeal

seguono le frme di: CENTRO INTERNAZIONALE, COMITATO SCIENTIFICO, PRESIDENTI CENTRI REGIONALI e NAZIONALI, REFERENTI locali della RETE MPPU NEL MONDO